PetroChina increases diesel supply to ease shortages

GUANGZHOU (ICIS)--State-owned PetroChina has increased the volume of diesel it is importing and producing to help ease a supply shortage in ?xml:namespace>China, the company said on Thursday.

A diesel shortage has been spreading across the country since mid September as supply fails to catch up increasing demand, industry sources said.

PetroChina has imported 120,000 tonnes of diesel already in October, and an additional 40,000 tonne cargo arrived on 27 October, the company said on its website.

The group's diesel imports in the July-October period reached 280,000 tonnes, more than double its total imports in 2010, it added.

To make more diesel available to the market, the company is keeping refinery operating rates at full capacity this month with average crude throughput reaching 410,000 tonnes/day, up 5.7% year on year.

Meanwhile, its average output of oil products in October increased 9% year on year to 260,000 tonnes/day.

PetroChina has also increased its diesel output by cutting yields of gasoline.

In addition, the company raised its diesel outsourcing from independent refineries. In total, PetroChina outsourced 5.6m tonnes of diesel in the third quarter, up 51% year on year, according to the company.